Memories: Ishqbaaz oneshot series

37. Jealousy Jealousy - Part III

Continuing from Part II.

Shivaay paced around the room, hand constantly weaving through his hair. He wanted to punch something, preferably the face of whoever leaked those pictures. He took a deep breath and turned towards Om. He would always know what to do, Om's rationality had always been a balance for Shivaay's impulsiveness. To his surprise, Om wasn't on the bed beside the other two who were watching him avidly as though he were a tennis game.

"Om kaha hai?" he asked surprised. It was odd of Om to leave when he was in crisis. They were each other's anchors were they not? Protecting the rest when the boat was in dangerous waters.

Priyanka pointed towards the pool and Shivaay saw his brother hunched on its edge.

"Aap Om bhaiyya se baat karo, he's been tensed these past few days," she advised, "I'll go check on dinner."

Shivaay nodded giving her a brief hug before clambering across the open window.

"Bhaiyya wait! Mein bhi aata hu." Rudra called before following him out.

They sat down either side of him, Rudra still fawning over the picture of ShivIka as he had termed them and Shivaay looking straight at Om. They needed to talk. First about the situation Shivaay's Annika-addled brain had landed them in and then the way Om was acting.

Om closed his eyes, turning his face away from Shivaay so he wouldn't notice the dried tear tracks. He knew that Shivaay would be able to tell what was wrong with one look at his face. His voice was shaky when he spoke, "Ru, can you please find someone and ask them to set up my easel?"

Rudra looked up from the picture, "No."

"Ru plea-" Om began.

"If you think I'm leaving you like this when you both clearly need to wrap your heads around the fact that Shivaay bhaiyya likes your friend Annika and that you're jealous of it, then you're wrong." Rudra said shortly.

"Wait what?" chorused the two.

Rudra shook his head, "Just because I don't say anything doesn't mean I don't notice. It's so obvious that bhaiyya likes Annika since he met her. Ever since the party Om's been acting more like papa because he's jealous."

Om's brow furrowed as he looked at Rudra, "I'm not jealous of anything, if Shivaay does like Annika then that's great."

"Then why did you walk away?" Rudra asked softly.

Om gazed resolutely downwards, as if inspecting his own reflection in the water. He could feel the tears prickling again and sighed. "I... I don't know." he mumbled.

"Om look at me," Shivaay whispered as he held onto Om's hand, "Please just look at me."

Feeling incredibly guilty, Om turned to face Shivaay, "I'm sorry, it's so ridiculously stupid of me to think like this. I should've been less selfish."

Shivaay's hold on his hand strengthened when he made to get up and he felt himself being pulled down against his will.

"There's nothing wrong feeling a certain way Om. I need to know what's going on. Humne kabhi ek dusre se kuch nahi chupaya. No secrets, no lies remember?"

Om stared at awe at his brother as he felt the shame descend on himself. How could he have been so stupid! Shivaay wasn't perturbed that Om was upset with him and instead of berating Om for acting so childishly, he was trying to figure out what went wrong.

"Talk to me Om." Shivaay said with a small smile.

That seemed to give Om the courage he so desperately needed. This was Shivaay, his brother and best friend, the one person who would always stand by him, no matter what. Shivaay would never judge his Om.